POOR TURNOUT AT THE FUNERAL FOR SKATALITES’ LLOYD BREVETT!

THE adage, “A prophet has no honour in his own country” rang throughout yesterday’s funeral service for Skatalites member Lloyd Brevett.

The empty seats at the University Chapel of the University of the West Indies, told its own story as Jamaica Labour Party spokesman on youth and culture, Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange, noted, “I’m disappointed that it’s not standing room only … when our icons pass there must be respect.”

BottomPastor Charles Brevett (left), nephew of late Lloyd Brevett, and son, Easton, are among the pall-bearers taking the coffin into the University Chapel, Mona, yesterday.

Top: Brevett’s son Easton and wife Ruth

Brevett died May 2 at age 80 from complications from a series of seizures and strokes.

There were moving moments. Deejay Shabba Ranks’ mother, Mama Christie, belted out God Is Standing By for Brevett’s widow, Ruth. Brevett’s nephew, Pastor Charles Brevett, spoke about the bass player’s emotional state in his last days.

“Two things contributed to his demise … the death of his son, Okine, and the abandonment of his friends,” the congregation was told.

According Pastor Brevett, during his uncle’s hospitalisation, he had few friends. He urged artistes and musicians to change their attitude, as they never know when they may need support.

Minister of Youth and Culture, Lisa Hanna, hailed Brevett as “a giant of a man”, as she spoke about the reach of the Skatalites’ music.

“The celebrated music of the Skatalites could not be constrained by Jamaica’s shores and was picked up by the rest of the world,” she said.

Hanna called for an official institution to “be created as the repository of the stories, images, the footprints and the evidence of Jamaica’s principal 20th century art form — reggae music and its precision.”

Grange agreed, and presented a “to do” list to the minister for the Jamaica Music Museum and the establishment of a memorial park where Jamaica’s music greats will be buried.